Julie Moran SA

I am a manager of a global team and because of the time zone differences I find myself working at each end of the day, sometimes putting in very long hours. Since talking with Thea about napping and following some of the links she suggested, I decided to build naps into my daily life.

I started with timed 30-minute naps as in the past I have always felt groggy if I napped for longer. However, I have rapidly progressed to a range of different naps. I now pre-select what I think I might need to refresh, or to help my mind be creative, or to help my brain integrate things more easily if I am working on complicated projects.

The more I nap, the better I get at it!

I now give my mind a clear direction before I take a nap, for example ‘dear mind, please make all the necessary arrangements so that I awake refreshed’, or ‘dear mind, please do some creative work on this project whilst I rest so that when I awake I have some new ideas.’

I find that the few moments after a nap are a great time to harness the work that my mind has been doing, behind the scenes, whilst I have been napping.

I allow myself the luxury to awaken in a calm and unhurried way and I really don’t feel groggy regardless of the length of time I nap.

It’s fantastic; I would recommend napping to everyone as a fatigue/stress management technique. It’s also a great creativity-booster technique.